The Fears that Devour
by HylianWolfos94
Summary: Caught between her greatest fears and her life, Iris finds herself stricken with terror as the walls she faces come crashing down over her. The knights and hunters have found her and the wolfos crave her death- her end seems nigh. If one let's themselves, they can drown in their turmoil... Will she allow herself to fall under?


Testing to see if I can post things now. This is a rewrite of the very first oneshot story I ever made for Iris. Enjoy~

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Thunder stampeded across the skyline, dancing around the dark clouds like a tribal smoke. Termina's land had fallen prey to darkness as a coming storm pounded its shadows over yonder and across the fields. Gales blew hard and the air whipped like a furious lash into the southern trees. The sky grew angry, and the world was empty of all mercy.

Deep within the maw of the swamp, terror fueled a deku scrub resident with the utmost desire for safety. She ran for her life, fear gripping at her heart. Her clothes were tattered and torn from a battle long-waged, her body covered in wounds. She huffed and panted with every wide, rushed step. A near-teared tone soaked her whimpering voice as she cried for a hand to take.  
Within her wake, wolfos followed in hot pursuit, bloodthirsty and mad.  
"How did it come to this? How did it come to this?" she cried in her thoughts.

She attempted to form words, but only cracked-whimpers made their way to the surface. The succulent-haired scrub eventually found herself tripping and stumbling over the ground. The roots of the earth like barbed wire whipped at her legs, attempting to drag her down. She carried on, however. Her life depended on it! She gained her footing and pounded through the swamp jungle with one place in mind. The one place she knew she'd be safe, with the one person she knew she could turn to.  
But the mighty jaws of the storm; of the wolfos- thirsted for her fear, for her terror. They remained in high-gear behind her, bounding across the jungle just as easily as she. They never lost sight of her. But onward, she ran and ran. Iris, the one who fled her fate, was not to be let go.

She came to face a clearing at her desired destination, empty and void of life. But her sights fell on the hole in the clearing, a burrow she knew well. She hastily hurried into this burrow. The wolfos were quick to jam their snarling faces into the entrance, snapping, drooling, and growling for their prey to come within reach. But further she went into the burrow, into the dark below the ground. The ceiling was high and towering over her, filling her with dread. The ceiling above was dark and foreboding.  
"Jace?! Jace!?" she cried. "Jace, where are you!? Are you okay!?"  
She ran through the tunnel scrub burrow, looking for her mate with the utmost terror. But alas, the home was in a millennia's shambles. Its interior was different from what she'd known. It ran straight through. The home was filled with deterioration and battle-scars. Furniture was torn apart. Arrows in the walls and mangled items and clothing. Bulks were torn from the earth walls, and not a trace of life was present. Most notable, Jace's belongings were strung across the floor erratically. Even his vest. And her faithful brother, Skits, was nowhere to be seen.

The sounds of the entrance being torn apart broke her from her still search and she darted into the back hall in hopes of finding a chance. But the hall grew long and dark. Before long, she was to stop before a towering shadow with a fire in their eyes. She shook her head before looking to the executor's feet... And before him... Was the love of her life laying unconscious with an arrow through him. She choked on a cry and exclaimed, putting her hands to her face. Her eyes welled up and she cried, "No... No!"

The sound of an arrow nocking into place caused her head to dart up at the killer. This hunter locked gazes with Iris- much to her dread. The shadows soon filled the wide hall, each with a different weapon, but all aimed to her. They wanted her broken, they wanted her dead. They wanted her soul to burn, and her life to end. The circle of rage and hunger never ended. They took everything from her, and they would now take what innocence and hope she had left... And her life.  
"NOO!" she screamed shrilly, "Nooo! Leave me alone! Get out of my head, leave me alone!" she continued to shriek, backing away from them. "Why must you take everything away from me!? Why must you destroy my life!?"

One picked Jace up, clutching the fallen lad like a prize. As if they had a bounty to collect, the shadow seemed proud of the kill. But the tunnel scrub remained lifeless, with ne'er a movement or breath.  
"He never deserved it!" she screamed. The weapons were brought up in unison, and she realized she was their next target... Now with her mate gone, she was alone in this battle. The hunters had found her nest, and they would mount her head with pride and rob her of all she is worth, seen as a monster she was not. But would they listen to an animal? No... They would chase her... Forever... They had already taken the skin of her back. They will not rest till they have the rest of her.

She darted out of the hall, the shadows flooding in from behind her! They chased her like the ghosts of her mind, blood in their eyes. She tore away from the hall, facing the wolfos that had torn their way through the entrance. They growled and snarled, lunging at her without a moment's notice! She was expecting to see Jace come heroically flying out from somewhere with a sword in hand saying, "You and me, babe!", but it was just her. Jace was gone... And she was hoping to see Skits fly in and lure away the beasts, but he was nowhere to be found. And the longer she stayed, the more the shadows of her hunters came pouring. The knights were here to collect their bounty!

She boldly bursted through the wolfos, getting attacked and scarred in the process. Her face was streaked with tears, but she didn't care. She blew through, bursting through the burrow hole like a frightened rabbit and dashed her way through the woods once more.  
The rain had begun pouring by now, and the swamp began rising high around her. The escape seemed to never end, and water began meeting at her feet. She kicked herself into high-gear, in hopes of escaping the terror that was the earth below. The land was flooding over as the gates of the sky rained fire upon the earth- metaphorically of course.

The stormy night raged on as she raced the rain to the end of the swamp. She was almost there! She was almost to the field! However, a barbed-wire root caught her foot, tripping her to fall into the mud side-face first. She cried, feeling as though she were tortured beyond all repair. Her body was beaten, her ankles and feet suffered the grip of the barbed-wire beneath her. And behind her, the spirits of her most dreaded terrors flew over the flood in black mass. Wolfos jaws of shadow snapped and roared, and the hunters flew between with battle-cries as determined as blood-shed warriors going to war! Thirsting for her suffering and her will, they never ceased. She frantically removed her foot from the hold with clear struggle, before escaping off into the continuing-flooding field.

Her joints ached and her heart was heavy. Her souls were blurred with tears, knowing well that the world was now against her. Iris had no hope to hold onto, and she'd soon meet Jace's same fate. It was as if her tears helped build the sea around her, but she couldn't quit crying. She continued through the field as the water built around her ankles. Soon, it was to meet her knees the further she got. The rain hit her like rocks, and it was so thick she couldn't see in front of herself. She didn't know where she was going! Every now and then, the lightning flashed to light up the field for her to see shadows in the distance. But her sorrow began to drown her, and her fear devoured her. The corners of her mind closed in as the jaws of her end enclosed her heart. The darkness of the storm made her feel surrounded.

The lass treaded through high-waters, fighting the current the best she could. There was nowhere to go but forward, and that is where she went. It wasn't long before the water met her head and she was dragged under. Her feet left the ground, and the water tore her beneath the surface like a hungry crocodile! She choked and struggled as the waves shoved her under. It beat her and threw her, and she knew she wouldn't last much longer. All she could do was scream for mercy in her heart- for it was cracking and breaking. Before long, it would drown with her.  
Iris looked up with a gagging choke, inhaling the air that wasn't there. And as she looked up, waves crashed down, forcing her back under. And it was here, she was gone... Colliding with the ground beneath the water...

Now that the darkness was sated, the storm came to a close... The water slowed its rage, and the clouds began to part with time.  
Her unconscious form had been beaten upon the highest hill of Termina field, where her body rested half-in the water. The forest lass had nothing left to hold onto, and not a single thing mattered. Having thought she was dead, she cracked her eyes open to see a dreary grey world around herself through her blurred sights. Her eyes still made of glass, she sighed while resting on her stomach. She hacked and coughed, before shutting her eyes.  
Termina field was a lake of her tears and fears, and she finally drowned in it. She could not prove her innocence, and she could not regain it.

Her once flaming eyes burned pale and sad, weakness filling them. Her glow was gone. Words could not escape her, but her visage said enough.  
When she finally did bring herself up to sit, she was surprised to see she was beaten onto the highest area of Termina field, where Clocktown rested. However, there was no Clocktown. It was gone. She squinted, focusing on the empty hill. But as she stared harder, she realized that she wasn't alone on this platform.

By its lonesome at the center of the hill, washed over in rain, was a single tree. It displayed a sullen atmosphere, lonely and depressed. It was dead, barren of all life. This image faded into her sight, and she felt sad. Was this all she had left was a dead tree? She limped over to it. It seemed to welcome her beneath its feet, and she fell before it, leaning against one of its lowered branches for support. It was as if it held her up for support to slow her fall. Her leg was no longer functioning, and she began to weep.  
"It's gone... It's all gone..." she whimpered. She soon began to sob, falling against the side of the tree's trunk. Iris' injured form slid to sit at its feet, and she curled up between some of its roots. Though the storm had ended, it still raged in her heart. The rain fell from her soul, and she sobbed uncontrollably. All she had loved was gone, and she no longer had a home to return to. Her leaves were drained of color, and they hung sad and sullen.

The lass' hand gripped the cloth of her chest before lightly placing her palm against the tree.  
"I failed you... Skits, Jace... It was my fault... You were all I had, and you're gone..." she then buried her face into her arm, crying some more. "You are gone... Y-you are gone now... It was my fault..."

"Now don't you be beating yourself up." spoke a voice nearby.  
Iris eyes flashed open and she whipped her attention around. Left, right, up, down... Then forward. A being stood against the grey world in full color, bright as a spring day. She was a bizarre kind, three-fingered and alien. Her head curled up from behind, the tassels of her leaves hanging from behind. Her eyes burned like the hot fire of the sun- her pupils white in slits. She was certainly a lively one, glowing a strange light. With every step, she lit color beneath her feet to the ground. Iris' eyes grew confused and she sniffled.  
"Who're you?" she whimpered.  
"Eh, let's just say I'm a guardian angel... I guess..." the character replied with a small shrug. She stopped before Iris, tilting her head slightly. "Why you sitting all curled up beneath this guy? That's old news, don't ya know."  
Iris continued to cry, gazing up at the only other one present. "They're all gone... Had I come sooner, he'd have survived. I-I could have saved him." she cried. "I could have saved them all. I was too late..."

The other ghostly scrub carried a saddened look on her face. She leaned down to face Iris, pulling her hands away from the lass' face. Iris huffed as she was forced to look the other in the eyes.  
"Been there, done that..." the other responded lowly. "But at least for you, this isn't real. Don't go reliving things, alright? The more you look back, the more you suffer and the more you risk failure once more."  
"I don't understand..." Iris whimpered.  
Her friend sighed, looking up to the tree and replying. "Everything will be okay. Man... This was one the worst dreams you've had in a long time my friend. C'mon, you're stronger than this. Get up and face the world with a fire. You're getting a little too close to the core of your terrors this time."

"B-but... The hunters... They killed him..."  
The ghostly scrub wiped a tear from Iris' cheek and she smiled sympathetically. "No, your memories did... Believe me, he's okay. And so are you. You really let yourself get caught up this time. Don't you see? He's here with you all the time. You just... Your heart is seeing through damaged eyes. The hunters cannot get you anymore, and the wolfos will not devour you. The only one who can allow you to be devoured... Is you."

The strange light scrub brought herself to her feet and she turned to walk away, but she faced Iris one more time and smiled sadly at her. "Rest here for a while and repair your heart. And don't make me have to come back now. You're a tough one, you don't need me to pick you up... And with time, he'll find you again just like before. I mean... We always do find him, now don't we?"  
Iris sighed a heavy breath. She turned to stare at the ground, watching the ground take color. Iris then brought her gaze upward, seeing flowers blooming over the tree.  
"Please, I-..."  
Iris faced forward, and the ghostly character was gone. The water in the field was gone, and all she saw were trees surrounding the field. Along the plains, flowers grew in abundance. She found herself resting back, huffing lightly. The young woman soon shut her eyes, hoping to find some peace... As silence filled the area, a voice found its way into her mind...

"My queen... Please get up, I beg you... Don't leave me..."  
It echoed more, and the sound came closer. The voice was gruff- dark and worn. Iris felt a hand take hers, but all she saw was darkness.

"Hey, wake up..."  
As the voice grew closer, it became a lot younger. There was a pureness in the voice, one she felt welcomed to. Iris stirred in her darkness.

And before long, it was right before her, saying-  
"Iris... Iris, please wake up...!"

Iris' eyes flew open and she flew up in a frantic cry!  
Bonk!  
This frantic cry quickly grew to a pained yelp. But hey, she wasn't the only one to make the noise! She held her head and turned to look sideways and up to see a blond tunnel scrub holding the side of his snout and face. Alas, Jace was here and very much alive, his form covering the blue sky above. He then looked down, his lanterns full of terror. His red brows were creased sadly and he questioned frantically.  
"Iris! Oh thank the gods you're awake! I couldn't for the life of me get you to quit panicking and screaming!"  
Her eyes were streaked with tears. She had forgotten they had spent the night outside stargazing. They had fallen asleep together on the hammock outside because it was a full moon. The hammock swayed softly and Jace's chest raced with worry.  
"Are you okay? I was so scared for you... You must've been having another nightmare, weren't you?" he questioned, resting his hand at her back gently whilst he sat above her from the side. Skits was in the trees above, looking down with sheer concern on his face. He cawed softly, tilting his head and asking "What's wrong" in his own way. Iris hastily checked her clothes for tears and her body for injuries. And best yet, her leg wasn't broken!

Iris' eyes darted from Skits to Jace, before she reached up and clamped her arms around him tightly, crying lowly.  
"You're both okay! And Jace, I thought I lost you again..." she uttered.  
Jace's eyes widened and he frantically gripped the sides of the hammock to try and keep it from tipping. Once it calmed, he held her and she pulled away.  
"Again? You and I both know I never died... I mean, I almost did, but c'mon, those dragalfos can't take me. That was almost three years ago babe..."  
"T-that's n-not w-... I'm just glad you're okay. The hunters, t-they got into our house and they murdered you! A-a-and the wolfos, they tore through the house and chased a-after me! E-everyone was gone! It rained and rained till the world flooded and I-"

"Whoa, whoa..." Jace stopped her in her panic, running a hand across her leaves. "Everything's okay... We're both still here and you're perfectly fine... I told you, I'll always be here for you, okay?"

She sniffled and he continued. "Bird-brains up there would never leave you to go through anything alone. And I sure as heck wouldn't allow those hunters to harm you! If I ever see them, I'll give 'em what for..."  
His hand gently rubbed her scarred back. She turned away as he did, still unsure of just how to handle dealing with the thought of them being open again. It boiled his blood to think someone tried to poach her at one point. He was happy she was in another place and time from them, or else he'd find them... He was getting tired of her nights being plagued with nightmares sometimes. It made him feel helpless that in her mind was the only place he couldn't protect her. But at least she had an angel to guide her out of her nightmares. He didn't know that, though.

"I was so scared..." Iris sighed.  
Skits flew down, landing on the side of the hammock to nestle against Iris' face. Iris petted him and smiled softly, saying- "Hey buddy..."  
Iris then brought her gaze up to her partner, nudging her snout under his and sighing.  
"I'd be so lost without you both..."  
The lad rested beside her with an arm around her. "I don't ever want you getting lost... Ever... I always got your back like you had mine."

She smiled at him, resting back against his arm and exhaling... It was all a bad dream. She was right, everything will be fine...Iris'


End file.
